Melanin, as we all know is a compound that imparts colour to our skin, hair and eyes. It has numerous other appreciable characteristics including electronic conductance, ability to protect against harmful rays and adhesiveness. A unique property of this compound is that its structure is inherently entirely disordered unlike in those of other components of the bodily systems where a direct link exists between the structures of polymers and their properties. Attributable to this property, researchers prior to the study henceforth discussed were never able to exploit melanin’s properties fully.
Now, a collaboration between scientists from the University of Strathclyde, UK and the City University of New York (CUNY), has resulted in the discovery of a novel approach to produce materials similar to melanin and also provide unprecedented control over them, unlike their reference compounds.
The researchers achieved it by using simple proteins tripeptides made of three amino acids to produce molecular structures with complete controlled levels of order and disorder; the tripeptides upon oxidation produced polymeric pigments with colors ranging from light beige to deep brown.
Further characterization of these pigments demonstrated UV absorbance property and their nanoscale morphology could also be systematically controlled using the tripeptides themselves.
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scientists are now planning the compounds’ commercialization in cosmetics and biomedicine. This discovery is highly likely to help produce and develop a new range of cosmetics as well as biomedical products.
